nostalgique

Forms

nostalgique (plural nostalgiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French nostalgie + -ique.^[2][1][3] The noun is from New Latin nostalgia, coined in 1678 from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “return”) and ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”), literally the pain of returning.^[2][3] The TLFi names J. J. Harder's 1678 thesis on nostalgia as the source,^[2] while the DHLF gives the word to the Swiss physician Hofer, who coined it for the title of his medical thesis to render Alemannic German Heimweh (“homesickness”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1800 as a medical term, in La Décade, of a “nostalgique” soldier who was quickly cured, that is one ill with homesickness.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word passed from psychopathology into general use around the middle of the 19th century: Baudelaire uses it in the wider sense in the Paradis artificiels (1860).^[2][3] Bescherelle records it as a noun in 1845,^[4] and Gautier uses it before 1872 for what arouses nostalgia.^[4] The adverb nostalgiquement followed in 1866.^[3]

Timeline

• 1800 – La Décade uses it as a medical term.^[2]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records the noun.^[4]
• 1860 – Baudelaire uses it in the general sense.^[2][3]
• 1866 – Gautier uses the adverb nostalgiquement.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Feeling or showing nostalgie, regret for the past or for one's home country.^[5][6][7]
2. Arousing nostalgia, melancholy: une valse nostalgique.^[5][6][4]
3. (psychopathology) Suffering from homesickness as an illness.^[2]

Noun

1. A person who longs for a past state of things: les nostalgiques de l'Empire.^[5][7]

Word family

• nostalgiquement

Related words

• nostalgie
• New Latin nostalgia

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
7. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)